Emotional Anguish
by Dream Tone
Summary: Jean/Marie slash. Marie and Jean find happiness in each other.


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Title: Emotional Anguish

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Pairing: Jean/Marie

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Summary: Marie and Jean find happiness in each other.

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Disclaimer: The characters by no means belong to me in any way. I don't own them. Never did, never have, and never will. (sob, sob) 

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A/N: This is my first X-Men Movie verse fic ever. If I have the characters portrayed wrong, pay no attention to it or to me. I'm just writing them the way I see it in my big imagination. Which has a lot of fantasies might I add. Never mind… Just read, enjoy, and review. Pretty please?

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Marie stared out the window of her room down to the yard below. It was a beautiful day outside and the others were all having fun in the yard, playing in the pool and pushing each other around. Marie wished that she could join them but her powers weren't even close to developed yet. She feared what would happen if she came in contact with one of the students. 

Marie turned away from the window and shut her eyes as she remembered what happened the last time she accidentally absorbed someone. Of all the people she could've come in contact with, the unlucky winner was Scott Summers, one of her fellow X-Men.

It was hard enough that she couldn't come in contact with a single human skin-to-skin, but temporarily gaining Scott's power was murder to Marie. She couldn't come in contact with anyone because of her power AND she couldn't open her eyes for fear of blasting someone that might've been standing on the other side of her eyelids, the result of absorbing the blast master. 

Getting to the infirmary was hell, but details of how she did it were fuzzy in Marie's mind since the thoughts of Scott rudely pushed their way through her, practically blocking out any thoughts of her own. All that she remembered was that she was lucky enough that the professor had made another pair of those ruby quartz visors in case anything like that had ever occurred.

For days, Marie had to wear them everywhere she went and Scott's thoughts roamed her day and night. Thoughts of days long gone in the past, when his power hadn't entered his life yet, and thoughts that were particularly those centering on Jean Grey. The affection and love he felt for her.

Marie opened her eyes again from the rapid torrent of thoughts she was just thinking as the thought of Jean Grey pushed its way through her mind. For a minute or two, her heart beat rapidly at the thought of the telepath.

Marie never had any thoughts except friendship towards Jean, but ever since she had absorbed Scott, feelings slightly more different than before started overwhelming Marie, to the point that she thought she was going to go crazy. But she never did. Even after Scott's influence left her body days ago, Marie kept having thoughts of her teacher, Jean Grey.

Marie looked back out the window and envied the others outside as she tried to push the thoughts away. No matter how hard she tried though, they wouldn't. It was as if Scott's influence had opened a door to a new affection. As the sudden realization of what she felt towards her teacher became clear, she quickly tried blocking it out of her mind for fear that Jean might somehow come upon them, whether it be now or in the very-near future.

Marie looked outside but didn't see the telepath anywhere in sight. She stepped away from the window and turned to go do something in order to keep her mind off of things, but stopped in her tracks when she saw none other than Jean Grey standing there in the doorway.

Jean smiled at her. "I noticed that you weren't outside with the others. I just came to check on you and make sure you were fine. Are you?" She stared at Marie with sympathetic eyes and calmly waited for an answer.

Marie cursed herself inwardly for not acting fast enough and forced a smile upon her face, giving Jean her pearly-whites in hopes of convincing the older woman that she was okay. "I'm fine, thank you. I was just going to go outside. I needed time to think." _About you._ Marie's eyes widened at the sudden thought and her heart beat a little faster as she tried to stay calm and hope that Jean didn't come across that.

Jean, however, showed no signs of knowing anything and if she did, she certainly didn't act upon them. She just nodded and stepped farther into the room. "You do know that I'm here and free to talk about anything that's on your mind, right? You can tell me anything." Jean stared at Marie and silently waited for a reaction.

Marie just nodded her head. _Yeah, everything except my feelings for you._ Marie's eyes widened just slightly once again as another thought popped into her head. She quickly looked at Jean's face for a reaction and was certain that she saw Jean's mouth turn slightly upwards in one corner, but it vanished just as quickly as it had come. Marie thought it was just her imagination and pushed it aside. But she couldn't help and wonder if Jean possibly knew now…

Marie was so absorbed into her thoughts that she didn't notice Jean had stepped the rest of the way into the room and was now standing before her. When she realized that, she gave out a little 'yelp' and sort of jumped backwards, tripping on some books that were on the ground. 

Before she knew it, Jean had grabbed her gloved wrist and pulled Marie back towards her, causing the young girl to land against her chest and wrap her arms around her. Marie stayed like that for a split-second before pulling away and blushing profusely at the close contact that had just occurred between her and Jean.

Jean just smiled as she saw Marie blush and lightly scanned the girl's mind. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she knew that Marie had something on her mind the moment she had entered the room. She had seen Marie looking out the window with that deep thought expression on her face. She was going to call out her name, but Marie had already beaten her to the chase. She had seen her stand up and turn around, her face changing to a surprised expression with the sudden sight of seeing her there.

Jean continued scanning Marie's mind and was surprised with the information that she found there. _Marie has feelings for me? How is that possible? CAN it be possible? Maybe it's just from Scott's influence. That's it. It has to be Scott's mind intruding on her own. I mean, what else can it be?_ Jean shrouded herself with doubt and shook the thoughts from her head as she stopped the mind reading. 

Marie was looking at Jean all this time and saw that she was in deep thought. _No. She can't be reading my mind. What am I gonna do? If she digs deep enough, she'll find out the truth. And I can't let that happen since I don't even know anything about this sudden affection. Or do I? All I know is that I have to get out of her presence. NOW._

Marie was about to excuse herself when she saw Jean shake her head, as if she had come upon thoughts that not even her mind could process at that moment. That's when Marie desperately wanted out of there and panicked at the same time. She started backing up to the door. "I'm sorry Miss Grey but I have to go. There's something I need to do." And with that said and done, Marie hurried out of the room before Jean could get a word in.

Jean sighed as she surveyed the empty room and looked back at the door that Marie had just exited through. While in the girl's mind, Jean couldn't help but wonder if she felt the same way that Marie felt about her. She pondered over this for a few minutes before coming to the conclusion that she had felt this way all along, but never acted upon them as she had Scott at the time. Still did as a matter of fact. But somehow it was different. Now that she knew Marie's true emotions, she could now act upon her own that she had been hiding, hidden even from herself until this day, until this _moment_. 

Jean didn't know what to do. One-half of her said that she should go along with these new feelings for Marie, now that she felt them just as strong as Marie did for her, while the other half reminded her that she was already with Scott. Jean sighed once again as the difficulty of the situation settled upon her shoulders. 

Just because she was with Scott didn't mean that she was completely happy. Sure there were times when Jean loved him, but most of the time she felt that they were just friends and would never end up more than that. Jean didn't know if she wanted to spend the rest of her life waiting around for Scott to take their relationship up to the next level. And she didn't want to rush him into anything either. Jean wasn't sure if she even wanted that. Deep down, Jean knew the truth.

Then there was Marie. No need to say that the feelings were already there. They both felt it just as strongly as the other. But there was the problem with Marie's power. If Jean went Marie's way, she would be missing out on the feeling of wanting to touch her without getting hurt, which was practically near to impossible. Practically, but not quite. She could, after all, help Marie to learn how to control her power and then the 'no touching' rule would cease to exist. Until then, Jean would have to settle for no skin contact at all.

The only problem left was that Jean was a teacher and Marie a student. It would certainly account for an awkward position for the both of them, one that Jean was sure Marie wouldn't want to be a part of. She already had trouble with getting close to the other students. If the whole student body knew about them, it would make Marie's situation that much harder. But then again, Jean knew that the students were sympathetic to everyone and she was sure that they would accept the relationship, should it happen. 

Jean made her decision and quickly left the room to go and find the winner.

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Marie had been sitting in the garden, looking out into space and deep in thought, when Jean came in and quietly sat down beside her. Marie was startled at the sudden presence and jumped. When she realized it was Jean, she stiffened a bit and her breath caught in her throat.

"Miss Grey. I wasn't expecting you to be down here. Is there anything wrong?" Marie looked at Jean and waited for an answer, her heart thumping so loudly that she was certain anyone within a mile's distance could hear it.

Jean just shook her head. "No. Nothing's wrong. I just wanted to have a talk with you." 

Marie's mind was racing as she thought of what Jean wanted to talk about with her. _No, it can't be. She knows, doesn't she? Damn it, Marie! You should've known you couldn't keep secrets from a freaking telepath. Great job! I give you a 10 with a standing ovation. She probably wants to talk about how we're just friends, no more than that. I should cut myself the pain and leave now._

While Marie had been thinking, Jean was reading her mind and decided to put a stop to Marie's planned actions before she could get it done. "Marie, just hear me out." She waited for a response. Marie nodded her head, indicating for Jean to continue.

"Marie…umm…earlier today, when you were in your room and I came upon you, around the time you tripped, ahh…I went through your mind and found some things there I wasn't quite expecting."

"I can explain that you know. It's just that…."

"Marie, you don't have to pretend with me. I know your true feelings." She raised her hand up to stop what Marie was going to say. "You don't have to deny. It's actually okay with me." Jean smiled at the shocked look that appeared on Marie's face. She let the news sink in for a while longer before continuing.

"And I want you to know that I feel the same way about you." 

Jean marveled at the look on Marie's face as the newfound information sunk in even more. It was a mixed look of pure shock, surprise, love, and sympathy. Marie tilted her head as she tried to find out where her voice ran off to. Never in a million years did she ever dream that those words would spill out of Jean's mouth and fall upon her ears. Marie was speechless. She was grateful when Jean decided to speak again.

"You may not like this idea, but deep down…I really, really feel that we should…you know, be together." 

"Of course."

Marie and Jean were both surprised at the quickness of Marie's decision. It seemed that a while ago Marie had gone mute for the rest of her life and now, she suddenly found her voice again and didn't want to let go. 

"But what about my power? As long as I live, you won't ever be able to come near me. And I don't want you to live through that. It's not exactly the life I would pick."

"I already thought it over. I could help you learn to control it. It'll just take a matter of time before they're fully developed."

"Well, what about Scott? I thought you loved him. How's he going to react to all this?"

Jean gave Marie a sad smile. "That's the thing. I thought I loved him. But the truth is, I don't. I only ever loved him as a friend and that's all that he is to me. I'll deal with him later. I'm pretty sure he'll understand. I've actually been through his mind and it seems he doesn't want to go to that level anyway."

Marie smiled and gave Jean a big hug, careful to not touch any bare skin. Jean was caught off guard and nearly fell over, but she was able to control herself hugged Marie back with equal force. They let go and looked each other in the eyes, smiling. Jean tugged at Marie's shirtsleeve and nodded to the door.

"How about we leave this garden and go get us something to eat? I don't know about you but I'm starving!"

Marie laughed as both her and Jean walked out of the garden and headed for the kitchen. For once, Marie felt truly happy and accepted since the day she found out about her power.

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THE END

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Aahhh…. A short and sweet fic… I find that I can't even do these because they always end up turning into chapters and after that, even more chapters. How lame can I get? Anywayz, don't forget to review! All comments welcome, including flames.


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